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NY may ban salary history for applicants

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef and Sen. David Carlucci discuss legislation that would prohibit employers from inquiring or requiring salary history information from prospective employees.

ALBANY -- State lawmakers are considering a bill that would prohibit employers from inquiring or requiring salary history information from prospective employees.

The measure from Assemblywoman Sandy Galef and Sen. David Carlucci, two Hudson Valley Democrats, would help close the pay gap between women and men, they said, and it would apply to both public and private sector businesses in New York – part of a national movement.

“Asking for a person’s previous wages is a long-standing practice and often seen as an innocuous method that H.R. managers use to weed out candidates,” Galef, Ossing, Westchester County, said at a news conference Monday near the Capitol.

The change would particularly benefit women and people of color, advocates said, because it would prevent using previous salaries to discriminate against a worker's new pay.

For individuals who has stepped out of the workforce for several years either to take care of their children or loved ones, this has even greater repercussions, according to Dina Bakst, the co-president of A Better Balance.

“Determine salary based on the value of the job, not what someone made in the past,” she said.

Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, D-Yonkers, stands next to a sign at a news conference near the state Capitol on Monday, May 1, 2017, to help eliminate salary history inquiries on job applications.(Photo: Lindsey Riback, Albany Bureau)

The statewide measure would follow New York City, which has a law set to take effect later this year that would prevent asking previous salaries on a job application.

And Gov. Andrew Cuomo installed regulations in January that prevents state entities from asking employees about their past salaries.

It's unclear whether the full state Legislature will pass the latest bill before the legislative session ends in mid-June.

Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County, said a lower pay rate is carried into retirement as women and people of color receive less money through Social Security.

"This is about making sure we are expanding the middle class -- that we are growing wages," Carlucci said.